NY Times: Brew Pubs Gain an Unlikely Following in Utah

This article takes a look at them, and with a few side notes about Utah's liquor laws. Below are excerpts from the article.

Wasatch (Brewery) is the granddaddy, but these days other brewers’ craft beers are thriving, too. And around Salt Lake City a string of inventive small breweries make for an inviting, if unexpected, tasting tour.

Utah still has quirky alcohol laws, including one that sets a limit of 3.2 percent alcohol — a little more than half the amount standard in most beers around the world — for beer sold on tap. But they don’t seem to be holding anyone back. Utah breweries do make higher-alcohol beers, though they are treated as liquor and are sold under more limited circumstances. And the state’s brewers have consistently won medals at the World Beer Cup and the Great American Beer Festival.

Most brew pubs in Utah are in tourist areas. Slick-rock bikers and backcountry hikers in southern Utah congregate at the Zion Canyon Brewing Company, near Zion National Park, or Moab Brewery and Eddie McStiff’s in Moab. Skiers at Snow Basin drop in at the Roosters Brewing Company in Ogden, to savor a rich chocolate stout.